In the latter part of the century magnificent manuscripts were produced by illuminators of the Memlinc and Van der Weyden school, such as the famous Grimani _Breviary_ in the Venetian Ducal library, so-called from its having been bought from a Sicilian dealer in 1521 for 500 gold ducats by Cardinal Grimani, a member of the Venetian Grimani family, who were liberal patrons of this class of art; this sum was quite equal to £2000 in modern value. The miniatures in this manuscript were ascribed by the dealer to Hans Memlinc, Gérard of Bruges and Lieven of Antwerp; they were probably by the two latter illuminators, not by Memlinc, who died in 1494 or 1495. [Illustration: Fig. 37. Miniatures of Italian style from a German manuscript of 1312, showing the influence of Florentine art on the illuminations of southern France.] _Gérard David._ _The Horae of Prince Albert._ Gérard or Gheeraert of Bruges was a native of Oudewater in Holland; he was born about the middle of the fifteenth century, and settled in Bruges in the year 1483, when he became a member of the Guild of Saint John and Saint Luke, to which all painters and manuscript illuminators were obliged to belong. Gérard took the surname of David, and became a famous painter of triptychs and altar-pieces, as well as a skilful illuminator of manuscripts. Many fine panel-paintings by him still exist in Bruges and elsewhere[166]. There are also several fine manuscripts with miniatures by his hand in addition to those in the Grimani _Breviary_. Among these are two _Books of Hours_ in the collection of the late Baron Anselm Rothschild of Vienna, and another manuscript _Horae_, which was written and illuminated for the Cardinal Prince Albert, Elector of Brandenburg, who was consecrated Archbishop of Magdeburg in the year 1513 at the age of twenty-three. An interesting monograph, with photographic reproductions of the miniatures, was written by Mr W. H. J. Weale for Mr F. S. Ellis, the owner of the manuscript. This lovely manuscript is almost equal in beauty to the Grimani _Breviary_; it is rather later in date, having been illuminated between 1514 and 1523. _The Grimani Breviary._ The miniatures in the sumptuous Grimani _Breviary_, which dates from the latter years of the fifteenth century, probably about 1496, are very pictorial in style, with figures which are larger than usual, proportionally to the size of the page. In some of the miniatures the figures are shown only in half length, so that the elaborately finished heads are painted to a large scale. The borders which surround the pages, enclosing both text and miniatures, are of the Franco-Flemish style, with realistic flowers, fruit, insects and the like, scattered over a flat gold ground, as is described above at page 143. The butterflies, dragon-flies, strawberries, irises and lilies are perfect marvels of naturalistic skill and beauty. _The month of April._ _The Grimani Breviary._